The broad objective of this research is to explore several areas of synthetic organic chemistry with the view of (a) developing new synthetic methods (b) synthesizing new compounds which have unusual or interesting structures, and which may have useful pharmacologic properties (anti-viral, anti-cancer, anti-fertility, gastrointestinal, etc.). More specifically, we will explore the versatility of cyclohexadienones as starting points for organic syntheses. They will be used to prepare epoxyketones, cyclopentenones, polyepoxides, cyclobutanones, polyolefins, a new tetracyclic cage structure and polysubstituted aromatic compounds. We will also study the photochemistry and rearrangements of unsaturated ketones, including certain conjugated cycloheptadienones which, in one step, yield polycyclic structures reminiscent of steroids. Compounds will routinely be screened for pharmacologic activities.